C++ FAQ Celebrating Twenty-One Years of the C++ FAQ!!!
(Click here for a personal note from Marshall Cline.)
Section 11:
11.1 What's the deal with destructors?
11.2 What's the order that local objects are destructed?
11.3 What's the order that objects in an array are destructed?
11.4 Can I overload the destructor for my class?
11.5 Should I explicitly call a destructor on a local variable?
11.6 Can I call a destructor on a local if I really want to?
11.7 How do I handle the situation from the previous FAQ?
11.8 What if I can't wrap the local in an artificial block?
11.9 Explicitly calling dtor for objects allocated with new?
11.10 What is "placement new" and why would I use it?
11.11 Should a dtor call the dtors for member objects?
11.12 Should a dtor call the dtors for the base class subobject?
11.13 Should my destructor throw an exception when it detects a problem?
11.14 Getting new to allocate memory from a specific memory area?
[11.1] What's the deal with destructors?

A destructor gives an object its last rites.

Destructors are used to release any resources allocated by the object. E.g., class Lock might lock a semaphore, and the destructor will release that semaphore. The most common example is when the constructor uses new, and the destructor uses delete.

Destructors are a "prepare to die" member function. They are often abbreviated "dtor".